The City Council on Monday adopted the procedure it will use to produce an interim member for the District 3 seat vacated last month by Myron Paris.

The City Charter requires the council to vote on a replacement to fill the seat until a special election is conducted next April to decide who will finish Paris’ term, which expires in 2016.

According to the procedure, council members must submit nominations to City Clerk Jane Sharon by 5 p.m. next Monday. Each member may have just one nominee, and no person may be nominated more than once.

Sharon will certify the qualifying forms and provide copies to the council for review within two days, and council members will advise Sharon of his or her nominee by 5 p.m. Oct 18. At the Oct. 21 regular meeting, members will vote on each nominee in roll call order until a nominee receives four affirmative votes.

The new council member will be sworn in at the Oct. 28 adjourned meeting.

When Council Member Eileen Weir asked what would be done in the event of a tie – a possibility with six total votes – Sharon said voting simply would continue, with possibly a nominee being removed.

In essence, Mayor Don Reimal added, “We just keep working at it until we get it worked out.”

Prospective nominees must:

• Be a registered voter in Independence for two years immediately prior to the election by the council, and be a resident of District 3 for at least one year prior to the election.

• Not hold any other office or position of profit in city government, or be appointed by the city manager or one of the manager’s subordinates.

• Not be related to the mayor or council members or the city manager “by affinity or consanguinity within the fourth degree.”